Timothy Engstrom found guilty over imported excavator filled with cocaine, remanded in custody

About 276kg of pure cocaine was hidden in the arm of an excavator, addressed to Timothy John Engstrom's business, when it was shipped from South Africa to Australia in 2019.

Its purchase had been arranged by fellow Bungendore Landscape Supplies director Adam Phillip Hunter, who was recruited by a shadowy figure dubbed "coffee man" to import the drugs.

But unbeknownst to the business partners and close friends, authorities intercepted the 20-tonne machine and conducted X-rays on it at the Australian border.

Police substituted the cocaine for an inert substance before sending the digger on to the landscaping business, inside which investigators had installed hidden cameras.

The surveillance devices later captured Engstrom, 38, using an angle grinder to cut open the machine and fist-bumping Hunter, who proceeded to unload the inert substance.

Police lurked outside, watching and waiting, before eventually using an angle grinder of their own to break into the landscaping yard's shed and arrest the business partners.

Hunter, 37, pleaded guilty to a charge of attempting to import a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug, and was sentenced in 2021 to 12 years and nine months in jail.

Engstrom insisted, however, that he had not known what was hidden inside the machine.

He pleaded not guilty to a charge of attempting to possess a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug, and faced a two-week trial in the Downing Centre District Court.

Last week, towards the end of the trial, Engstrom took the stand in his own defence.

The 38-year-old claimed he had become aware of the fact something illicit was hidden in the machine three days prior to his arrest, describing a conversation he had with Hunter.

Engstrom's evidence was that his business partner told him "he had to get something out of the machine" and his heart sank, wondering if it was "something stupid, like heroin".

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But Engstrom said Hunter reassured him that was not the case and insisted things were "all good".

He claimed to have trusted his friend's word and turned a blind eye to what was in the digger, with his role being to "simply access the arm and leave the rest to [Hunter]".

Prosecutor Adam McGrath said this was "implausible", arguing various pieces of evidence, including material from the surveillance devices and intercepted phone calls, showed the close friends had "clear trust and a mutual understanding as to what they were doing".

Mr McGrath drew particular attention to Engstrom having fist-bumped Hunter after cutting a hole in the excavator, describing this as "a celebratory action" that was indicative of the 38-year-old's "exhilaration at the danger and anticipation of obtaining drugs".

While Hunter has been behind bars ever since the pair were arrested in July 2019, Engstrom was granted bail in December that year after providing a $500,000 surety.

In light of the jury's verdict on Tuesday, almost exactly three years later, Judge Gina O'Rourke SC placed Engstrom back in custody to await sentencing next March.

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